hi there.

Welcome to my blog. I'm spending a year capturing happiness, and I invite you to come along as I journey toward a more joyful living. I also write about travel, food, and matters of the spirit. Hope you enjoy!

Nov 22 Makai

She was a Jenny Replacement when I went off to college, and my parents needed another young being to take care of. They rescued her from death row, and she's been with our family for over a decade now. I claim her as my puppy.

Today the family went on a hike--me and my parents, Makai, and the most recent edition, a teacup poodle named Koa. Naturally, we got lost, or rather took the wrong trail, so we were headed back to the trail head to reroute and figure out where we had actually intended to go. As is standard, Makai ran up ahead and was exploring the mountains when suddenly we heard a terrified and wounded dog cry coming from above us. I looked up and saw a giant buck stampeding down the mountain followed by another enormous deer, and Makai screeching and backing away, clearly frightened, at which point she lost her footing and starting sliding down the mountain. More dog cries. More terror. There was nothing we could do but run to the base of the mountain and watch.

She managed to gain footing and we called to her, but she was so shaken. My dad started up the mountain to get her when a flash second later, she was down on the trail and my mom was yelling to my dad that Makai was down--everything was okay.

And then I saw Makai panting, the white fur on her side colored pink with blood. It was in this moment that I felt my heart either sink or leave my body, it's hard to say where it went. I told my dad, Daddy she's hurt! and I ran over to my sad, scared dog whose legs were shaking, taking her head in my arms and telling her she's going to be okay. My dad tried to wipe some of the blood away to see what exactly we were dealing with--a gash, likely caused by the hoof of a buck--but we couldn't tell how deep it was. Thankfully, she could walk and we weren't far from the car.

I called all of the nearest animal hospitals, but they kept directing us to the emergency animal clinic 45 minutes away. So that's where we went.

My gratitude today is for emergency animal clinics and the fact that we were able to get Makai in to be seen. The vet said it was a significant wound, but it didn't look like there was internal damage. They will sew her up and put her on pain meds and she should be okay. (As of right now, they still have not yet performed the surgery, but hopefully we will have her back soon.)

So. That was a crazy scary day, but one that ended much better than it could have.

And in other, more cheerful, news, my parents and I had dinner at a "Manor" that was UH-mazing. We ate in a room that was known as "the library," and there were books from the 1880s in it. I had one of the most decadent desserts of my life, the Chocolate Cordial Bombe that actually exploded (or rather, imploded) when a hot chocolate-cherry brandy sauce was poured on top of it. Inside the chocolate globe were layers of dark chocolate and white chocolate cherry mousse.

Seriously.

Good thing we don't have a holiday devoted to food tomorrow or anything

Please keep Makai in your prayers for a quick recovery and no complications! <3 Thanks, friends.